Experts push for nutrition investment

Policymakers, development leaders, health professionals and nutrition experts gathered at Serena Hotel for a two-day international conference, "Act for Nutrition: The Emergency We Can No Longer Ignore," focused on Pakistan's persistent malnutrition and stunting crisis.

More than 40 per cent of Pakistani children under five are stunted, while the country records 155 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and loses upwards of USD 17 billion annually to malnutrition.

The conference aimed to move the national conversation beyond statistics and towards practical, measurable interventions that protect Pakistan's human capital and future generations. The first session was titled 'Opening Plenary: The Crisis, the Causes, the Call to Action'. The session set out the case for urgent, coordinated national action.

Opening the conference, Dawn CEO Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani described stunting as a national emergency and a failure of collective priorities. She said nutrition must be addressed across health, agriculture, water, education, social protection and economic policy, with responses tailored to Pakistan's varied local realities.

The chief guest at the event, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, conveyed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's commitment to treating malnutrition as a national development priority. Noting that around 90 per cent of a child's brain develops by age five, he said, "Investment in nutrition is not charity, it is economic policy."